Star Fox Invasion
by SilverThorn-2000
Summary: The Lylat system is again invaded....
1. Chapter 1

Star Fox: Invasion

Chapter 1

Space.

Out near Venom, on the far side of Lylat, space was vast indeed. Stars shone with brightness, this far out, the far edge of the Lylat system. Even Lylat's older sibling Solar was just a ruby in the far distance.

Nobody expects, of course, that someone will simply appear out of nowhere and attack.

And, yet, that was exactly what happened to the small force of Cornerian warships sitting in defense of Venom: A half-dozen, much larger ships sped into existence with the brilliance of a large white flicker and opened fire.

For their own sake, the Cornerian fleet commander reacted quickly. A half dozen fighters broke off and swung for the inner system at full speeds while the larger battleships turned to engage.

The Cornerians were decimated. All their attacks were doing no damage, nothing leaking through the enemy's shields.

The enemy vessels went to rapid fire, and the small, courageous Cornerian fleet was a mere memory.

Planetary Governor Dash Bowman glared as the doors to his office burst open. Two combat armored forms wielding heavy weapons- at least, he thought they were heavy weapons- strode through, followed by a tiger in a pitch black uniform.

"You are the authority here?" The tiger asked. Dash nodded, trying to place the accent. It wasn't one he could recall hearing, but still-

"My name is Commissioner Argrive. You will surrender to us, or we will simply work our way down the Government's chain of command."

"Who's 'us'?" Dash asked, forcing the question between grit teeth. The tiger frowned.

"Federal Foreign Intelligence Bureau of the Unified Authority Government. Now, will you surrender? I've no intention of asking again." Argrive arched an eyebrow questioningly as Dash growled.

"Fine."

"Good. Take him. Put him in _Ashteroeth_'s brig against the locals good behavior." The two battlesuited marines cuffed Dash and hauled him away.

"I'll remember this, Commissioner, and I will end you." Argrive payed Dash's threat no mind.

"Remove him, and dispatch the courier. Inform the task force that our operations zone in clear." Argrive gazed out the window as the guards hauled Dash away.

_Capitol Building,_

_Corneria City, Corneria_

_04:29_

Peppy Hare glared almost accusingly at the black ships in the holo, glancing only momentarily at another display before turning his apparent ire back at the ships in front of him.

"Sheer force of will isn't going to stop them."

Peppy sighed at the gravelly voice to his left. "I know, old friend, I know. It's just..." he threw his hands up in frustration before gesturing at the display. "First the Aparoids, then the Anglar, and now this!"

"I recall hearing a recorded transmission of Falco, from the Aparoid invasion." There was a click and whirring as Pepper brought his wheelchair closer to the display. "I believe he said something like, 'One thing after another. This ain't ever gonna end.'" Peppy snorted at Pepper's comment.

"Almost prophetic, that." Peppy leaned back. "Where's Ricar and Beltino at? They ought to be here by now."

Pepper snorted. "Beltino's busy at the gate complex. Doubt he'd show up. And President Ricar was detained by the civilian staff over this-"

Pepper fell silent as the door opened, and a large panther in a navy blue suit walked through.

"Gentlemen?" Julien Ricar's tenor was gravelly, and Peppy forced himself to shake the sinister feeling the president tended to give a person.

"Mister President, we have an emergency. Roughly sixty hours ago, a force of unidentified vessels- mostly capital combat ships- appeared and assaulted Venom. Venom's sector of the network went dark shortly thereafter."

Ricar nodded. "I'm aware of that, General Hare. Is there any new information?"

"We've only got what basic scans they had, and it isn't much to go on. I'd asked Beltino to be here to help explain this, but-" Peppy threw his hands up in a small gesture of helpless frustration- "He's not here."

Ricar nodded, allowing himself the faintest twitch of a bemused smile. "I'd appreciate your assessment first, General."

"We don't have much, like I said. Half a dozen ships came out of nowhere, but there was a heavy particle surge prior to the arrival. At least two of the ships seem to be dedicated carriers, the others looked more like dedicated combat platforms." Peppy looked up from the half-scribbled notes he'd brought over from the Defense Command Building. "And we know that either they use a different form of shield technology, or its more advanced than ours."

Ricar frowned at that statement for a long moment. "Very well. Pepper, your thoughts on this?"

The old bloodhound frowned, bringing his hand up slowly to scratch his chin. "Not much needs to be said, sir. It's certainly an invasion, but who or why isn't something we know right now."

Ricar sighed. "All right. And what's the latest information your people have collected, then?"

Pepper rolled his wheelchair over to the holographic display. "As of noon yesterday, our unknown attackers had also assaulted and taken control of Titania. They seem to be content with that territory for the time being."

Ricar leaned over the display. "Why is that?"

Peppy cleared his throat. "Well, initially it seemed they didn't want to stretch themselves too thin."

"Initially?"

"It seems now like they were simply securing a staging ground for themselves. Long range scans indicate that, at the very least, ten more ships have reinforced the initial six." Peppy gestured to the area between Venom and Titania, where another ten icons had appeared.

"Given the nature of long range scanning technology, we have next to no information on half the new arrivals." Pepper admitted slowly, taking a deep breath.

Ricar grimaced. "Elaborate, please?"

Pepper gestured at the display. "We can confirm the arrival of at least one more carrier and four combat ships. The power signatures for the other five vessels are larger."

"I see." Ricar was silent for a moment. "The assembly is not going to want to hear this. We've been getting used to the idea of peace. Issuing an executive order to mobilize the military won't go over well, even if it is an emergency."

Peppy shrugged helplessly. "I've alerted the Star Fox team to this, and they'll be making a recon pass in the next few hours..."

"Good." Ricar turned to leave. "Once we've got more information, I'll have Beltino get in touch with you two and put together a technical briefing."

"Sir." Peppy stood at attention as the president exited the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_Venom/Titania subsystem_

_06:37_

"Feh. Recon duty." Falco Lombardi muttered to himself as his fighter swept outward. "'Go out, take a look-see so the Fleet doesn't have to'."

"Falco, would you give it a rest?" Fox's voice snapped over the comm. "We're getting paid good money to do this, and Peppy asked personally."

"So you didn't just pick it up off the job boards, then?" Falco asked lazily, and Fox sighed.

"Just shut your beak, Falco." Slippy's higher tones radiated through the comm, and Falco growled.

"Fine, I'll shut up."

The trio of fighters approached the unknown vessels, Slippy's Bullfrog fighter hanging back a short way behind Falco's Sky Claw and Fox's Arwing.

"Man, oh, man...I have _never_ seen ships like these." Falco looked up at the massive dark grey hulks around him.

"Not Lylatian." Slippy confirmed. "Design technique is different. And these power signatures- YOW!"

Slippy's fighter pulled up suddenly, and Fox spared himself a glance at his radar. "Looks like we've been seen."

"Good." Falco smirked. "Let's go drop some of these things and get out of here."

* * *

"Sir?"

Argrive glanced up from the reports he'd been writing. "Yes?"

"Unidentified fighters have entered the perimeter, sir. CAP is engaging."

"Locals?"

"Seems to be that way, sir."

"Have the Krasnaya and the Bellisarius launch fighters."

* * *

"F-Fox!" Slippy's cry brought Fox's head around. "We've got more company!"

"Couple of big ones are launching fighters." Falco's fighter twirled past, trailing one of the enemy.

"I see them. Slippy, get as much scan data as you can. Falco, when you're finished there, see what you can do about those cap ships!"

"I'm trying- dang! These shields are tough! Took at least a dozen blasts to drop it!"

Fox pulled a loop and proceeded to fire on the fighter that had been trailing him. "You weren't joking."

Laser fire peppered the enemy fighter, only to be absorbed by its shields. Finally, a pair of blasts tore through the shields into the engine ducts, and the enemy fighter came apart as its reactor lost containment.

"Bombs away!" Falco crowed, and Fox glanced up. The bomb exploded against the carrier's shields.

"Damn. Big one's shielded!" Falco cried out, twisting his fighter away in a corkscrew.

"All right. Star Fox team, retreat! There's nothing else we can do here."

* * *

"Enemy fighters are retreating, sir. Should we pursue?"

Argrive looked thoughtful for a moment. "Negative. Land the fighters and return to normal operations. We don't have the resources to expend in a chase across the system just yet."

* * *

"They're breaking (huff) off! Why (wheeze) do you think that is?"

"I dunno, Slip." Fox glanced out at the stars. "But hopefully what we have is enough to help Peppy out."

* * *

"Sir, the task force is now on station. Command datalink is up and running through both elements. Sub-elements will be online within the hour."

Argrive smiled grimly. "Thank you, Captain. Dispatch the courier drone to alert the transports to begin their jumps, and begin the second phase of the operation."

"Yessir."

_

* * *

Cornerian Defense Command_

_Corneria City, Corneria_

_07:43_

"Receiving subspace transmission from Star Fox, sir."

"Route it to Beltino at the Gate Complex. He knows what to do." Peppy leaned back with a sigh and looked around him. He'd tried so hard to retire, but he'd never been the type that settled down well. His late wife had been the sole exception.

He looked at an academy photograph of himself and James McCloud, years younger, when the Star Fox team was just starting out.

"Well, old friend, let's hope there's some fight left in these bones."

* * *

"Anything new, Rob?" Fox asked as he strode onto the bridge of the Great Fox.

Rob's narrow metal fingers played over the controls. "New units arriving. Long-range scan results do not match those on file. Construction suggests same origin as current hostile units."

"More of them?" Slippy asked incredulously. Falco scoffed.

"Transports, most likely. Most forces don't bring 'em in until the operational area's secure." The blue bird glanced at the sensors. "And a lot of 'em. Think they use projectile guns?"

"Either that, or they use missiles." Fox said.

"Missiles are so impractical, though. I mean, anything below a ship-killer is just a waste." Silppy looked at his friends. "I mean, with the advent of the homing laser-"

"That's gotta be it, then." Falco murmured, glancing down at the deck. His eyes flicked up at his friends. "If they use missiles, then odds are they don't have homing lasers."

Fox thought about this for a moment. "I don't know, and right now, I don't want to hang around to find out. Rob, full military power. Get us back to Corneria as fast as you can."

"Engines now at one-hundred five percent. Compensator system is holding. Reactor is within two percentile of red line."

Fox was quiet as the Great Fox crossed space.

* * *

"Sir, confirm enemy retreat. Should I put capital units in pursuit?"

"Negative," Argive said, looking up from the repeater on his chair. "Begin forming up operational divisions for strikes against the next two planets in the system."

"Yes, sir." The XO's face glanced at his commander for a moment. "Sir? If you don't mind my asking, what's your opinion on this?"

"I think," Argrive said after a long moment, "That this was just a reconnaissance raid. I believe, based on that thought, that we must move up our operational tempo."

"Yessir."

* * *

"So, Peppy, what's the situation?" Fox asked his old friend hours later.

"Bad is what it is." Peppy shook his head dejectedly. "Not long after you got out of there, they made inter-system jumps and took both Macbeth and Zoness."

"And the garrisons?"

"Gone. Macbeth's was subdued in ground fighting, but they simply got the one on Titania with orbital bombardment." Peppy sighed.

"What about Beltino? Has he come up with anything useful?" Falco asked.

"Some, but it's not complete. They use a similar laser technology, but their shields are...eons above anything ever developed here in Lylat." The old rabbit plopped in the chair behind his desk with another sigh.

"Anything else?" Fox asked, genuinely curious.

"Matter of fact, there is. Seems that, while the technology of their lasers is similar, they've specialized theirs. Beltino picked up two separate energy signatures."

"Meaning..." Slippy pried.

"Meaning they've got a laser for anti-shield usage, and a laser for anti-hull usage." Peppy shook his head. "Beltino thinks they've been at war a lot longer than us."

"They'd have to be, to develop specialized usages." Slippy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "After all, even the lasers mounted on the Arwing have an upper limit-"

Falco shook his head, but Fox nodded. "Would explain the shield systems, too."

Peppy looked up. "There's a general briefing soon. I'd like you boys to be there."

"We'll be there, Peppy. We'll be there."


End file.
